UPDATED January 20, 2017 – Parkinson’s disease or “PD” is a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system. PD is more typically diagnosed in elderly patients. Patients diagnosed with PD are characterized with non-motor and motor symptoms.

The disruptions caused in motor control include:

• Mild Tremors ( Typically when over 65% of dopamine neurons have degenerated in substantia nigra.

• Slowness in movement ( bradykinesia )

• Muscle rigidity

• Poor Posture or Postural instability

Parkinsons is not usually hereditary and less than 12% of our patients have reported a family history of the neurological disorders such as ALS, Ischemic Strokes or Ataxia. The primary pathological cause of Parkinson’s are attributed to the dopamine-creating cells in the midbrain (substantia nigra region). Some risk factors are for PD include: oxidative pressures, hereditary variables,environmental factors and traumatic brain injuries. (Pulkes et al. 2014)*

A diagnosis of PD is given when a patient develops rapid accumulation of the alpha synuclein proteins into the “Lewy bodies” due to inadequate activity of neurons and dopamine. Dementia with lewey bodies is reported as the 3rd leading cause after Alzheimers and Vascular Dementia.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s can take a while to manifest and the disease is regarded as slow moving or “insidious onset.” Early symptoms include Neuropathy and tremors with a clumsy motions even when the limbs are at rest. Serious symptoms include muscle rigidity, bradykinesia and gait disorders. Other non-motor symptoms include: incontinentia urinae, depression,insomnia and astriction. Patients we have treated at the regeneration center for PD generally don’t show significant abnormalities in lab panels and blood tests but our neurologists can usually notice increase of cerebrospinal fluid through the use of a brain MRI or CT Scan.(Pulkes, Papsing, et al. 2014)*

The symptoms of Parkinsons are progressive but each patient shows a different rate of progression. Losing Motion function causes a decline in the overall quality of life and drugs have shown very little effects in clinical trials and treatments around the world. For severe cases traditional medicine has virtually no effect and can make it even more difficult to control the symptoms due to to new side effects. Severe patients often demonstrate catalepsy and can develop other complications, such as lung respiratory failure.

Pharmaceutical based solutions have shown to be ineffective for symptomatic patients and cannot alter the course of degenerative disorder. Drug based treatments cannot raise the amount of neuron cells thus making most of the traditional treatment options ineffective.

TREATMENT PRECAUTION

Stem Cell Therapies are not appropriate for all cases. Patients with unidentifiable brain damage, travel restrictions or severe degeneration will not qualify.

Treating Parkinson’s with Neural Stem Cells

Neural stem cells have a high rate of proliferative activity especially in the cortex of the brain. The cells used in the treatment are first isolated from areas where neurogenesis occurs. The multipotent stem cells are then cultured over a period of several days to differentiate them into astrocytes, neurons and oligodendrocytes.  The Regeneration Center offers a promising new protocol to effectively treat parkinsons using neural stem cells replacement therapy. Our treatment is unique as it targets the central nervous system to enhance motor neuron function and the underlying mental symptoms via fresh cells that can release dopa, which then raises the levels of new neuron cells that are needed to to slow down,stop or in some cases reverse the gradual progression of Parkinson’s before its too late.

Our neural cell enhanced therapy for Parkinsons’ allows us to customize the cell delivery over several stages depending on the severity of the patients underlying health.

Treatments options for PD using Stem cells Include:

• Radio Guided Allogeneic Therapy

• Stereotactic technique of deep brain stimulation

• Striatum stereotactic pallidotomy

• Subarachnoid stem cell implantation via lumbar puncture

• Stem cell implantation via brain stereotactic operation

The quantity and types of implanted cells is dependent strictly on the patient’s medical needs. The treatments are effective in being absorbed by the tissues after crossing the brain barrier through use of cerebrospinal fluid.(Glavaski-Joksimovic and Bohn 2013)*

The goal of our treatment for Parkinsons is to alleviate the patients symptoms and restore any lost neurological function. Our treatments are safe and we are able to precisely implanted through radio guided delivery.Our treatment process is safe and fairly simple to perform, guiding the implanted cells to remain in the target location can be challenging. Not all patients are candidates and we request all patients requesting treatment submit their recent medical diagnosis and lab results/CT scans to our neurologists for review.

Implanted neural stem cells help dopamine transport channels and eventually differentiate into dopaminergic neuron cells to continue their primary function of regeneration.

Mesenchymal stem cells that we use for treatment are typically derived from placental tissue,amniotic fluid or human umbilical cords cells that are differentiated into nerve cells including dopamine-producing cells. Please note due that due to low yields and poor multi-lineage differentiation capacity Adipose “Fat” stem cells cannot be used.

To learn more about treatment for Parkinson’s Disease or if you have any other questions please contact us today.